Containers or holders for storing various personal use objects are well known. Products are typically packaged in some sort of container for shipping as well as for use by an end-user. For example, pharmaceuticals are often stored in a container with seven compartments, one labeled for each day of the week. In this device, however, the pills are not secured and may be jostled or even damaged during transport. In addition, these containers are typically too large to be conveniently transported on one's person or in a purse.
Electrical batteries for personal use items provide another example of personal use objects which would be desirable to store for convenient access until they are required by an end-user. In many instances, the end-user would like to carry one or more spare batteries so that they will be available when it is needed. For example, people often do not wish to be without use of electronic devices such as watches, pagers, hearing aids, electronic keys and others. Therefore, a need exists for a storage device which can hold one or more replacement batteries for convenient transportation and ready access.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art battery holder which is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,577, incorporated herein by reference. For ease of comparison with the prior patent, the reference numerals in FIG. 1 are consistent with the numbering in FIG. 1 of the prior patent.
The prior art holder includes two parts, a first part forming a sheath 17 in which a second part forming a drawer 18 is adapted to be latch engaged. FIG. 1 shows that drawer 18 includes a circular housing 41 in which the battery 12 may be placed.
While the prior art device of FIG. 1 does provide a storage case, the device is fairly limited in that it is designed to accommodate a single, specific type of battery. A need exists in the prior art for a storage device that accommodates different sizes and shapes of batteries in order to increase the utility and flexibility of the device. Also lacking in the prior art is a storage device that is readily adapted to additional or alternate utility, such as providing for illumination as well as for storage. These and other shortcomings of the prior art are overcome by preferred embodiments of the present invention, as described below.